The proliferation of wireless devices has made obtaining information easier than ever. Many wireless “portals” exist that allow users of wireless devices (e.g., two-way pagers, cellular telephones, PDAs, etc.) to request certain types of information by sending a request to the portal. Typical types of requests include requests for driving directions, phone numbers, weather condition, stock quotes, etc. These portals are relatively simple in their operation. The portal receives the request from the wireless device, typically in the form of a specially formatted e-mail or two-way page. The portal processes the request and then returns a device-dependent formatted reply to the requestor.
Examples of such a portals are HZ.com and infobeam.net. Both allow two-way pagers and other portable devices to send special commands as an e-mail message or page to a specific address to request information from the service. However, these services are limited in that they operate on a synchronous, on-demand basis. That is, they only respond to requests in the order they are received and do not automatically forward or update requests. Also, they typically do not automatically inform users of events. Another limitation is that they are limited in the number of devices they support.
Another limitation of these systems is that they use a proprietary client interface. As such the user must keep the interface software current, otherwise, information services may not be presented. Further, these interfaces often limit the type of requests that can be made, or frustrate users because they require information as part of the request that the user does not have. For example, a directory service request may require that the user enter a street address of the person they wish to look-up.
There also exist so-called “push” services. These services send information without on-demand user requests. These services can be analogized to television or radio broadcasts. These services may send information such as breaking news events and the like as it occurs to anyone who subscribes to their services. However, as the name implies, these services send information without any regard for the recipient's individual needs for the information. This disadvantageously may overwhelm the user with large amounts of unwanted information and possibly create a situation where the user may miss desired information.
Yet another limitation of these systems is they are not enterprise solutions. Most corporations have large Intranets and internal data services that are not easily accessed outside the corporate infrastructure. Conventional portals do not provide a way for end users to query this internal corporate information.
Thus, there is need for a system that not only responds to on-demand requests, but also schedules and provides event driven information. Further, there is a need for a cross-platform solution that enables requests to and from many different end devices. Still further, there is a need for an information delivery system that is easily scaled and extensible to corporate infrastructures. The present invention is directed to solving the above problems, as well as other needs.